Bought a used Desktop, wondering about upgrading internal hardware.

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EncryptedKnight

New Member
I recently bought a used Desktop from Overstock and was wondering about upgrading internal hardware.

HP Compaq DX7500 Intel Core 2 Duo 2.33GHz 2048MB 320GB DVDRW Windows 7 Home Premium (32-bit) MT Computer (Refurbished)

Specs :
Operating system: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium (32-bit)
Processor: Intel core 2 duo 2.33GHz
Memory: 2048MB DDR2 SDRAM
Hard drive: 320GB
Optical drive: DVDRW Rom drive
Graphics: Integrated Intel graphics media accelerator 3000
Audio: Intergraded high definition audio
Networking: Integrated gigabit network connection
Bays: 1(available)/2(total) external 5.25-inch, 0(available)/2(total) external 3.5-inch, 2 internal 3.5-inch
Slots: 2 PCI, 1 PCI express x1, 1 PCI express x16
Ports: 8 USB 2.0 (2 front, 6 rear), headphone, microphone, audio line-in, audio line-out, microphone-in, one (1) serial port, one (1) parallel port, 1VGA, 2 PS/2, 1 RJ-45
Power Supply: 365W
Model: DX7500 MT
Package contents: Computer system, power cord, keyboard and mouse
Recovery CD: No/ recovery partition only
Dimensions: 14.4 inches high x 6.88 inches wide x 16.55 inches deep
System Weight: 24 pounds

So far I have a Nvidia Geforce 9500GT and 4 1024MB ddr2 ram to upgrade my machine. My aim is to build a machine that is capable of mulitasking applications as I am in the process of developing indie titles for steam.

In the future I would like to add a 64 bit os and utilize more than 3.25 GB of ram due to 32 bit Windows 7 limitations. I would also like to have a more powerful graphics card as mine is outdated. I'm also wondering if there is a option to add a better processor for my machine. I would appreciated any advice anyone is willing to give, thanks for your time.
 
Hi!

As this is a micro tower case, you will be limited for the choises of the video cards due to lack of space. Also, a small case like this wont have the best of cooling abilities. So stick to a low power processor and video card. And a micro atx motherboard. Gigabyte and MSI have nice such boards. Get one with the latest bells and whistles like USB 3.0 and SATA 6gb/s

The AMD 6 core ( socket AM 3+ ) FX 6300 cpu I have got should suit you fine.
And I think that an Nvidia GTX 750 2 gb of memory version, would be a nice upgrade for a videocard. It only draws 5W more than your 9500GT and will outperform it with a mile. :) It's 5.7 inches long btw.
Pick one from Asus, Gigabyte or MSI. They have really good and silent cooling. Avoid any reference card with the tiny cooler / fan. It will sound like a hair drier and wont cool very well.
With a GTX 750. you can keep on running the rig on the power supply you got too.

As for DDR 3 RAM. Pick a low profile version. Corsair, Kingston and G.Skill are good brands. 8 gb and 1600MHz + CL 9 latency are enough I think.

Swap the original cpu cooler for something better right away when upgrading. The stock AMD and Intel coolers are noisy and does'nt cool that well. This should suit your case:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835608030

Adding an SSD drive and have the operating system on it + the programs that will benefit from the drives very fast performance is a thing you should consider too.

Samsung, are a good choise. Then use your present harddrive for programs that does'nt benefit that much from the SSD speeds and for storage. An SSD drive is very small and lightweight. If you don't wanna invest in a SSD hdd bracket? Just use some silver or duct tape to tape it up where there are decent airflow. Or suspend it using elastic cords of some kind.

Also, make sure to arrange all cables to the sides of the case and out of the way from the intake and exhaust fans air flow path as much as possible.
 
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Edit: If your optical drive are IDE and not SATA? Make sure to get a motherboard that have the old IDE connector. Or you will have to buy a new such drive too.
 
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Your machine is outdated. I personally would buy a new PC instead...

Which country are you from?
MS come up with windows 8.1 with bing free for low cost machine. E.g. I can get a i3 tower with OS for £230 in UK. And if I need to turn it into light gaming machine, i just add a GTX750, which make it £310.

If you are down to route of upgrading existing

RAM - get single stick of second hand 2 GB DDR2. This will make your machine become 3GB/ 4GB
GPU - GTX 750
CPU - second hand C2Q.
 
Thanks for the reply Goranpaa and Cisco001.

"Your machine is outdated. I personally would buy a new pc instead..." Yeah, tell me something I don't know... Here is the problem with that, I don't have the money right now for that. Why waste money in the future when you can use existing parts from your last machine.

The only reason I bought this machine is because it's all I can afford at the moment. My last Dell tower took a crap on me, power supply wigged out and fried the motherboard, peice of Dell garbage that I will never buy again. I've tooken all the parts out of the dell which I am using to upgrade my HP Compaq DX7500. Windows 8 is lame, I prefer windows 7 64 bit although I'm not sure if my machine can handle it.

If I am able to upgrade to a 64 bit OS then I would have a reason to buy 4 2GB DRR3 ram sticks, but for now I will use my 4 1GB DDR2 ram sticks instead. I just need a machine that's capable of mutitasking applications so I can continue my projects. The games I'm devloping don't even run off a graphics card and run off of internal memory instead. I'm also thinking about using my big metal Dell case instead of the small HP Compaq DX7500 shell so that I can have more options.
 
DDR3 RAM does not work in a slot/platform that facilitates DDR2.

There is no 'upgrading' from 32 to 64-bit, you must do a fresh install.

As stated, there isn't a whole lot you can do to pep this machine up to reasonable performance levels. The manual indicates the board supports C2Q, if you updated the BIOS to the latest version you could likely support CPUs such as the Q6600 or Q8200.
 
EncryptedKnight said:
Thanks for the reply Goranpaa and Cisco001.

"Your machine is outdated. I personally would buy a new pc instead..." Yeah, tell me something I don't know... Here is the problem with that, I don't have the money right now for that. Why waste money in the future when you can use existing parts from your last machine.

The only reason I bought this machine is because it's all I can afford at the moment. My last Dell tower took a crap on me, power supply wigged out and fried the motherboard, peice of Dell garbage that I will never buy again. I've tooken all the parts out of the dell which I am using to upgrade my HP Compaq DX7500. Windows 8 is lame, I prefer windows 7 64 bit although I'm not sure if my machine can handle it.

If I am able to upgrade to a 64 bit OS then I would have a reason to buy 4 2GB DRR3 ram sticks, but for now I will use my 4 1GB DDR2 ram sticks instead. I just need a machine that's capable of mutitasking applications so I can continue my projects. The games I'm devloping don't even run off a graphics card and run off of internal memory instead. I'm also thinking about using my big metal Dell case instead of the small HP Compaq DX7500 shell so that I can have more options.
Click to expand...


You're welcome.

I see no problems running Windows 7 64 bit if you want to? ( A clean installation ). And you could buy a GTX 750 2gb now and run it for the time beeing, until you can afford a full upgrade. This way you don't have to buy a video card too when the time comes. As said, DDR 3 is out of the question until you get a compatible mobo. But your 4 gig of DDR 2 RAM should make a difference anyway.
 
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